Again, Sylva Wins Bayelsa APC Guber Primary as Alaibe Withdraws

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 Former Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre Sylva

By Segun James in Yenagoa


Former Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre Sylva, has once again won the rescheduled governorship primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), just as his closest contender, Chief Timi Alaibe, in an unexpected move on Wednesday, withdrew from the race.

In the primary that was held amidst heavy security, Sylva recorded 981 votes to become the standard bearer of the party, while the second place person had 39 voids out of the total number of 1,147 accredited votes. 27 voided votes were also recorded.

Fourteen governorship aspirants participated out of the 19 aspirants, even as the former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Alaibe, had at about 3 a.m. sent out a statement withdrawing from the race.

The governorship primary was coming on the heels of the cancellation of last week’s primaries where Sylva was declared winner, but the national leadership of the party ordered a re-run following alleged security breach.

The conduct of yesterday’s primaries, which was led by a Brigadier-General, Monsur Dan-Ali (rtd), was peaceful and without any security breach  even as four aspirants, Chief Dikivie Ikiogha, Prof. Tarilah Tebepah, Mrs. Tonye Apreala and Chief Austin Ogionwon stormed the APC party secretariat at about 11.30a.m. claiming that they were not informed by the committee about the venue.

They also demanded a copy of the delegates’ list, complaining that their delegates were not accredited.

That was as the delegates were being accredited and voting immediately to save time. Many of the delegates defied the early morning rains to cast their votes.

The result announced by Dan Ali showed that the former state Commissioner for Environment, Godknows Powell, scored 39 votes, while former member of the House of Representative, Hon. Warman Ogoriba, scored 28 votes.

Others are the former state Commissioner for Agriculture, Chief Dikivie Ikhiogha, with 22 votes; Mrs. Tonye Akpereala scored seven, Hon. Preye Aganaba eight votes, Austin Fabo seven votes, Romeo Kebaiye scored 10 votes, Ebitimi Angbare scored three votes and Ambassador Otiotio scored one votes.
A former senator from Bayelsa ESylva, while accepting his victory, called on the party faithful and supporters of the other aspirants to come together and deliver the state from the failed administration of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), adding: “We thank God that our symbol is of the broom and we are ready to sweep out poverty, joblessness and under development from the state.”

Earlier, Alaibe, in a statement issued at about 3 a.m. Wednesday announced his decision to withdraw from the APC governorship primaries due to “party interest.”

According to Alaibe in a statement, “It is with all nostalgia that I recall the zeal, enthusiasm and hope with which thousands of Bayelsans made a statement in the direction of change in August 2015. I can also vividly recall a mental replay of the occasion wherein a qualitative representation of the leadership of our great party, APC, ushered in by respected leaders and members from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).”

He said: “That singular event has been phenomenal and has exuded confidence, unity of purpose, cohesion, collectivism and courage. That day undoubtedly marked the beginning of a people’s journey from hopelessness as enunciated by the accidental PDP-led government in the state to that of quality leadership that an APC government will represent.

“As one of such leaders who took that historic decision, I thought of giving a further bite to my burning desire to extricate the state from abysmal leadership failure. Therefore, my aspiration to be governor after series of consultations was to rekindle our collective hope and lift the state beyond its current state of decay under the PDP.

“Regardless, I am not oblivious of the fundamental fact that we all need a virile, united, cohesive and collaborative APC to bring about our desires to fruition. Not only do we need this, APC deserves every sacrifice, including personal interests, to arrive at the envisaged destination in February 2016. “

“This is more so that both as individual leaders and as a party, the need to avoid a situation of crisis that the PDP might inadvertently reap from cannot be over emphasised. As a result, having carefully examined the circumstances that have trailed the governorship primaries of our great party in the state, I have come to the conclusion that pushing my governorship ambition beyond this point carries alongside it some collateral consequences.”

“Succinctly, two options are available to me. Whereas I am confident that I have the required support of my admirers and supporters as well as the needed support of Bayelsans to govern them, the hurdles set on the way of this noble project are seemingly scary and capable of overheating the APC in Bayelsa. This is the path I chose in the light of the prevailing circumstances. I therefore withdraw from the governorship primary contest.”

“This decision is taken in the interest of our party especially as we face the task of the common challenge of unseating the PDP in the state on December 5.”